All posts by : Peter Goddard

Where do you take someone who has never been to southern Sweden
before and wants to get away from it all? My recommendation is to
visit a stone in a field in Dag Hammarskjöld´s Backåkra
and enjoy some calming views of the Österlen coast.
This is not just any old stone. Engraved into the surface is the
word PAX. In case you did not have the benefit of studying Latin at
school, PAX means PEACE. Words have power and I believe this place
imparts a sense of peace to the visitor; a place to sit and ponder
on the state of the world or just escape the bustle for a moment.

Bring your worries or the world’s troubles to this place, release
them and leave with a lesser burden or with renewed hope for the
future.

A friend and I came here from England while visiting Malmö in Sweden
for a long weekend in wintertime. It was not the warmest time of
year to visit Sweden and the snow had fallen covering the rolling
landscape of the county of Skåne in a white cloak. I decided to
brave the weather and take my friend to this stone that I had
visited once before in the summer. In winter, it would be an
entirely different experience.

Skåne is not like more northerly parts of Sweden where there are
pine forests as far as the eye can see. The Skåne countryside is an open agricultural landscape
of rolling fields with some woodlands.

East of Ystad stretches the area known as Österlen that is a popular
place for artists to practise their crafts. Going eastward from Ystad, the main road to Simrishamn follows a stretch of coastline with sandy beaches popular for bathing in the summer.

We turn off to the right after Nybostrand to take the eastern coast
road. The route takes us slightly inland as the landscape becomes
more undulating with a ridge of hills rising up at the coast from an
otherwise flat landscape.

Just after passing Backagården, I know we are near. I have stopped
at this popular tourist spot on a number of occasions. There is a
cafe inside the house but you can also take your refreshments out
into the large conservatory to enjoy the sun and indoor plants. The
shop inside sells arts, crafts and antiques.

I see the turn towards Löderups Strandbad and Kåseberga but keep
straight on until I see the signs to Backåkra. It is here that the
renowned Swedish diplomat Dag Hammarskjöld bought a secluded farm in
1957. Hammarskjöld was elected as Secretary-General to the United
Nations in 1953 at the young age of 47. He did not live long to
enjoy his new summer residence. In September 1961 while on a UN
mission in the Congo, his plane crashed killing him and all on
board. His death is clouded in mystery and is still under
investigation by the UN. Though officially an accident, some eye
witnesses say his plane was shot down as it came in to land at
Ndola. Whatever happened, a great statesman was silenced in his
prime.

After his death, the estate at Backåkra was bequeathed to the
Swedish Tourist Association (Svenska Turistföreningen) as a place of
sanctuary and cultural activities. The 30 hectares of land around
the farm is a nature reserve that is open to the public at any time
of year. The farm building itself, which contains artefacts
belonging to Dag Hammarskjöld, is currently closed to visitors while
awaiting renovation.

We follow the signs to Dag Hammarskjöld’s Backåkra taking us up a
winding narrow track full of snow and I am not sure if we will be
able to reach the top. Thankfully we manage the slippery bends and
find we are the only car in the car park at this time of year.

To reach the inscribed stone, we follow the signs to the meditation
place and wander across a large field. The stone is in the centre of
a circle with a low perimeter wall. The view of the coast is
unspoilt from here and we quietly take in the peaceful scene,
enjoying the solitude. We are fortunate to see a purple sunset that
afternoon indicative of the special lighting that has made Österlen
an inspiring place for landscape artists.

Kids just love this place because they can run around freely on the
grassy slopes. While adults like to ponder and meditate here, kids
tend to go wild! Peace is not what everyone seeks or finds!

At the bottom of the large field, a gate leads to a path through the
forest to the sea and sandy beaches. A good place for the family to
regroup is at Löderups Strandbad, a nearby hotel and restaurant
complex just along the coast from Backåkra offering rooms
overlooking the sea. During the tourist season, the restaurant
serves an excellent buffet.

If you have an appetite to see more stones, just up the coast to the
west is the spectacular formation of Ales Stones in the shape of a
ship. The site of the stones is on high ground overlooking the
sea with panoramic views. Ales Stones are the largest ship formation in
Sweden attracting many thousands of visitors – Sweden’s answer to
Stonehenge!

There is something about the high ground of the coastal landscape
here in Österlen that imbues a feeling of peace, an unwinding of
stress and a heightened sense of being. Our ancestors who created
Ales Stones about 1400 years ago probably felt it too.

“It was Bernard Leach who uplifted pottery to an art form. Bernard Leach didn’t make pots, he made art,” comments Maria Ekberg, a potter with a gallery in Hammenhög in Österlen. She has always admired Bernard Leach, an Englishman born in 1887 who lived his early life studying pottery in Japan before returning to Cornwall in England in 1920 to set up his own pottery. He developed his own style based on a combination of traditional Japanese, Chinese, Korean and European slipware. (Slips or engobes are colourful coatings of liquid clay applied to the surface for decoration.)

Bernard Leach (1887-1979) was one of the great figures of 20th century art and his sons David and Michael carried on the tradition. Maria Ekberg once attended a workshop held by his grandson John Leach who trained under David Leach. Inspired by the Leach legacy, she has developed her own special style of ceramics featuring flowers, buds and seed pods. No ceramics like hers can be seen elsewhere in Sweden.

“I have never had the ambition to be an artist,” says Maria Ekberg modestly. “Few potters would actually call themselves artists. Perhaps we are so busy mastering our craft and learning pottery that this alone takes us a whole lifetime if not longer. This has been the case for me. So I have been quite satisfied to call myself simply a potter up to now.”

Her garden is like a gallery decorated with her creations placed on iron bars planted in the flower beds. In the spring and summer, her bold ceramic floral creations on their metal stems can be seen juxtaposed with roses, hydrangeas and crocuses. They bring colour to her garden all year round even when the flowers are long gone and the cold winter winds blow.

Her latest collection is inspired by flowers without petals. She is fascinated by what is left when the petals have fallen to the ground. The petals represents the transient radiant beauty of a flower but the bulging seed pod left behind can also be seen as an object of beauty, depending on the eye of the beholder. The stamens and pistils of the flowers protrude prominently in her latest art with naked flowers that almost resemble sea anemones. “I have grown a bit tired of creating shiny, colourful flowers and pods,” she admits. This year she has created a more austere look with subdued pale colours and off-whites.

Maria Ekberg encapsulates seed pods in her art. Interestingly, Hammenhög where she lives and has her gallery was once the home of a thriving seed company named after this small town on the plains of Österlen.

Thomas Alexanderson is another potter from Österlen. He lives at Ateljé Brännorna secluded in the woods near Onslunda where he has practised his craft since 1975.

Bernard Leach mastered the technique of firing clay in traditional wood-burning kilns. However, since the 1950s, electric kilns have largely taken over for the firing of clay. Inspired by the work of Leach, Thomas has built two wood-burning kilns on his property in the woods, one for salt glazing and the other for glazing without salts. “I work very much in the spirit of the ancient pottery tradition. I like to use salt glazing which has its origins in Asia,” says Thomas. “The ash from the fire gives certain effects and this can vary depending on how the wind is blowing outside. You can also achieve special effects using techniques such as reduction.” (Reduction is the creation of a special type of atmosphere.)

He holds up a teapot where one side of the pot has a mottled look because the glaze was exposed to the ash whereas the other side, not facing the fire, has a more uniform colour. Thomas Alexanderson likes these unpredictable effects. “You never know exactly how a piece will turn out,” he says. “I also like it when you can see traces of the hand of the potter in the final piece. Each piece has a memory etched into it from the time when it was made.”

His pieces are marked by the insignia T in a square plus his brand name Thomas Drejare, which means Thomas the Potter. He likes working in large formats and many of his circular bowls are about one metre in diameter. “Is this art?” I ask referring to the bowl. “You can put fruit in it if you like but many people hang these bowls on the wall,” he replies. “I like making teapots too because they are functional but yet works of art.”

His teapots come in a multitude of salt glazes and often have a multi-faceted surface created by cutting the clay with a knife. The salt glazes are various metal oxides known by exotic names such as tenmoko, chün, shino, celadon and ox blood. The latter describes a blood red glaze which Thomas has used for one of his teapots – the perfect pot for a rooibos drinker! The most expensive teapots sell in his studio for about SEK 1400 each and often come with matching mugs and cups.

Thomas Alexanderson has become a well-established potter in southern Sweden after 40 years working in Onslunda and he has built up a large customer base. His studio is open from 11 am to 5 pm for visitors throughout July and the first half of August or by appointment.

He produces a large output of pottery but the method he uses is painstakingly slow. Each firing of the oven takes 12-14 hours and he and his sons usually chop the wood themselves. This is truly a handicraft and each piece he makes is unique in its own way: “You can come and see the process,” he says, inviting visitors to see him at work at his potter’s wheel. “Experience the living surfaces of the pottery where the flame has licked and the ash has fallen.”

You may not associate the climate of Sweden with winegrowing but in this northerly part of Europe in the county of Skåne, a number of vineyards have grown up since the turn of the millennium. The changing climate is working in favour of growing vines here but the climate is still far from ideal and makes winemaking a risky business. Nevertheless, with the right types of grapes and a lot of enthusiasm, wines of character with a distinct acidic taste can be made.

In Österlen, there are a growing number of vineyards but the one that receives the most visitors is Köpingsberg, east of Ystad. Köpingsberg’s speciality is sparkling wines including the Swedish equivalent to champagne called Köpingsberg Blanc de Blancs Vintage. This sparkling white wine made from Swedish grapes is aged for four years. When each precious batch of wine is released after four years, it usually sells out within minutes. That’s what happened when about 1,000 bottles went on sale in November 2014 at a price of about SEK 400 per bottle.

The wine is released through local Österlen branches of the Swedish state-owned chain of off-licences known as Systembolaget. They have a monopoly on sales in Sweden of wine, spirits and beers of a certain strength. Traditionally Sweden has had a strong temperance lobby for restrictions on the sale of alcohol. Indeed, from 1982–2000, the nationwide branches of Systembolaget were closed on both Saturdays and Sundays. Now they open on Saturdays but remain closed on Sundays.

Sweden’s strict rules mean that winemakers like Carl-Otto Ottergren of Köpingsberg cannot sell their own wine on their premises. “The rules are a bit crazy,” says Carl-Otto Ottergren. “If I could sell my wine direct to customers, I would keep my vineyard open for visitors much longer. But with the rules as they are, it just doesn’t pay.” Visitors can pay for wine-tasting at Köpingsberg but they cannot buy the wine and take it home. For that, they have to travel to the local branch of Systembolaget in Ystad, Tomelilla or Simrishamn or order the wine from another branch in Skåne.

Currently the winery is open for drop-in visitors on certain afternoons in July and August. At other times, visits can be booked in advance by groups. Most of the visitors are Swedish but some groups come from abroad. With his command of English, German and French, Carl-Otto Ottergren is able to guide groups from different parts of Europe. Visitors are shown around a modern winery attached to the house at Köpingsberg dating from the 17th century.

Carl-Otto has strong connections with France where he runs a joint venture with a vineyard in Bourgogne. Under his supervision, two types of sparkling wines are made at the vineyard and sold under his label, namely Blanc de Blancs Cuvée Carl-Otto (100% Chardonnay grapes) and Cremant de Bourgogne Cuvée Carl-Otto (45% Chardonnay and 55% Pinot Noir).

Using the Champagne method to make wine is labour-intensive requiring not just one fermentation of the wine in a tank but a subsequent fermentation in the bottle. Carl-Otto Ottergren is a serious winemaker who makes his living from wine and has been planting vines (mainly Chardonnay) here in Österlen since 2005. The vineyard now has about 6,000 vines. The 2015 harvest is expected to yield 6,000 bottles of the sought-after sparkling wine Köpingsberg Blanc de Blancs Vintage. The wine will be aged for four years before the vintage from 2015 is released for sale. “Even some well known brands of champagne only age their wines for two years,” Carl-Otto points out. “Our long ageing gives a rich taste.”

The Österlen region is perhaps best known for its apples. Tasty apple juices and ciders are made here. But Österlen also has a few small vineyards. With no tradition of winemaking in Sweden, Carl-Otto Ostergren is one of the pioneers in these northern climes.